Totally Radical!

I came upon a real treasure some time ago. One of my boyfriend's relatives, a woman who had done a lot of knitting when she was younger, said she had a ton of yarn and pattern books lying around, and if I wanted to have them? "Everything is clean! It's in bags! There are pattern books too, but they are very old-fashioned. I don't think you'll be able to use them."

I don't think I ever said yes so quickly.

And she was wrong about the pattern books. They are mostly from the eighties, and every magazine offers new inspiration for hundreds of amazing sweaters.

I felt selfish keeping this all for myself, so I thought I'd share some of the gems that I can't wait to make!

I feel like this is seriously missing from my life: a biiiiig sweater that makes me look like a dancing ice cream cone. Preferably slightly hairy.

Also incredibly lacking in my current wardrobe: peach/cream combos and massive shoulder pads. Go linebacker or go home!

This one is for Hanne! Or as she'd say: PINK FLUFFY UNICORNS DANCING ON RAINBOWS. Because why would you wear black when you can wear this and look adorable all the time.

New relationship goals, right there. Me and the boyfriend both have a mighty need for those shirt collars as well.

The girl on the left can only dream of being as awesome as the girl on the right, even with two optical illusion panthers (?) on her sweater.

Shoulder-showing sweaters are perfect for mocking manspreaders. You are basically required to spread your legs as wide as your leggings will allow at all times.

With this sweater I'll always feel like it's summer! A constant, blinding glare of eighties light and goodness. Sign me up.

Saving the best for last! I feel like there's something very feminine and sensual about the motifs on this classy sweater, but I can't quite put my finger on what makes it so. I do know that this is now on the top of my to knit-list, but maybe in pink?

If anyone wants to make one of these amazing patterns as well, do let me know! I'd happily scan the instructions, even though they're in Dutch so most of you will sadly have to guess at the magic behind these beauties.

A quilt a day won't keep your backache away

Hi guys! Don't fear, I'm not turning this place into a home decor blog, but I do have a few progress shots of a pretty massive project!

One of our living room walls still has an empty spot, right above a small cabinet. It's still empty for a reason: I wanted to put something big on that wall! Some time ago I spotted the amazing map quilt kits Haptic lab sells. The idea is super simple: you get a template printed on a sort of tear-away stabilizer, make your quilt sandwich (backing fabric, batting, top fabric), pin the template to it and follow the lines. I have never done anyhting quilt before but I think it's a nice introduction: the focus is on the quilted design, you don't have to cut or stitch small pieces and it's easy to customize (add embroidery or even appliqué). I'm nowhere near finished, but here are some progress shots!

I chose the constellation quilt because space, and have finished the main outlines of the map so far. At first I toyed with the idea of embroidering drawings of the constellations as well, but I decided to keep it a little simpler to stop this from becoming a truly massive project I'll never finish. 

After finishing this corner I decided I couldn't wait to see what the final thing looks like, so here's a peek! It's pretty exciting to see and feel how things are working out. Haptic Lab provides some basic intructions on how to put things together and what stitches to use, which worked out fine. Since this is going to be a wall decoration I'm not bothering with making the back look nice or hiding my thread ends, but some instructions on that would have been nice since you have a lot of small separate shapes. Hopefully this will continue to go well!

There should be some garment posts up here soon by the way! I made a fancy dress I still haven't properly photographed and something for my birthday, which was last week. I turned 26 and decided to celebrate with a hands-free spaghetti party. It looked like this:

A new Year

I might just be the last person to make a post like this. Happy New Year everyone! It's been quite busy around here, with little time for sewing activities. Thankfully I spent my Christmas money on a truckload of fabric, and found a few spare moments to make some plans!

I never really make New Year's resolutions, but I did spend some time thinking about what I want to sew and how. Lately I realised I was hurrying to finish projects as soon as possible, producing as many garments as I could in the limited time I had. When I noticed I started skipping things to be quicker, an alarm bell went off. What was the point in spending time sewing my own clothes if I wasn't going to do it properly? So that is my first and main resolution for this upcoming year (and the ones after this one as well): sew slow!

I have mentioned before how I wanted to make a proper winter coat, and the red wool I'm going to use arrived this week. The pattern will start from a basic double-breasted coat pattern I bought last year, but I will add some things such as wider lapels, pleats in the front and of course the back detailing (which I've completely ripped from a vintage coat I saw on Etsy). It will involve a lot of muslins and a lot of tailoring, but hopefully I'll end up with a gorgeous and warm coat! (By the way, the wool I bought is nowhere near as pink as the colour in the sketch, it's just really hard to photograph! The colour was called 'cardinal' and it's a lovely red, slightly deeper than your average bright red.)

The second coat I have planned for this year will be a trenchcoat in blue. I have made a trench before (pre-blog) and loved the idea, but the pattern wasn't quite right. I found a Burda coat I love, and will probably add a few details and make a couple of changes.

I will definitely continue my love affair with prints this year. The birds have already arrived, and the woodland fabric is on its way. I realise this might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really really love simple dresses as a canvas for an amazing print.

Here's another one of those prints, and another resolution: I do need a few more basic items as well. I have this chambray lying around and think it would make a lovely dress, to be worn just as is in summer and spring and with a cardigan and tights in fall and winter. I'm also planning to learn sewing with knits: at the moment I still rely on H&M and such for t-shirts, but being able to make my own would be a huge step forward. A t-shirt doesn't take a lot of fabric and the end result wouldn't even be all that more expensive than the cheapies I buy (and ruin) on the high street.

So these are some new year's thoughts, and an idea of what to expect on this blog the following months!

London Fabric Haul

Ok, this isn't really a fabric haul. And this post is way too late. But for some reason I took the photos and then marked the folder as 'posted', and failed to notice this until a few days ago.

So, I went to London at the end of September, and managed to buy a few sewing-related things! Not a lot of fabric (I was still getting over the Garment District), but I did find a few very nice vintage sewing books:

These were all bought at the same vintage store in Camden. I don't really shop for clothes anymore, and most vintage stores these days seem horribly overpriced, so I simply don't have the patience anymore to browse through them. In this store however, a large bookcase drew my attention, and I noticed they had an extensive selection on costuming and sewing! These three came home with me, for different reasons.

This book is one from a series, and I had another one at home: the only book on tailoring I've ever found in Dutch. The Dutch one came from my stepfather's bookcase, he has loads of books on subjects he was once interested in (it was next to one about keeping chickens).

The techniques described in this one are pretty basic, but I love the wacky illustrations.

Next I found a copy of the Singer Sewing Book from 1961. I bought it because it has loads of nice ideas for trims and decorations, and a few gems when it comes to sewing tips (they say you should always look your best when sewing, because worrying about someone dropping by and seeing you look sloppy is bad for your concentration. Wow.)

I like simple ideas like this one, using topstitching to mimic stripes!

But this is my best find so far: the Complete Book of Tailoring by my dear Adele P. Margolis. It has over four hundred pages of information on tailoring alone! Everything from pretreating wools to finding the right silhouette.

All you need to know about pressing, hand sewing, three different ways to do bound buttonholes... I squealed when I found this.

Of course, I couldn't help but stop by Liberty. I have a confession to make: I'm not always too fond of their prints (gasp!). It's just that small-scale flower prints look really really dull on me! I love them on other people but I just have to steer clear from them. But then I did see something that struck my fancy.

Ooh yes. bright colours and poppies? Bring it on. I've got three yards of this lawn and it's going to become a summer dress, all the way!

Anatomy of a Dress

Bodice front and back with unstitched darts / facings.

Skirt front and back with unstitched darts.

Shears / pins  and needles / thread / zipper / seam binding.

The pattern is the sultry sheath from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing, which I've dubbed the Breakfast Dress for an unknown reason. (I'll be reviewing the book soon!)

New York Fabric Shopping

As soon as I knew we were going to New York, I made a mental note to visit this one magical place I'd heard so many stories about: the garment district. Gertie and Peter have talked about it and its many shops countless of times, and I have to say I mainly relied on their judgment when it came to choosing what stores to visit. For those who don't know: there are a few streets in Manhattan loaded with fabric and notion stores. You'll find the Mood store there, well-known from Project Runway, and many more amazing fabric shops.

The first store I went to was B&J Fabrics, and being used to a large but slightly underwhelming source for fabric if you're looking for unusual things, my jaw dropped. It took me a while before I was confident enough to really browse all the gorgeous stuff they had to offer, but I did manage to select two pretty cotton Ikats:

The blue one has already been turned into a dress, which I'll post about later. The black and white fabric will probably become another dress, perhaps something slightly smarter for the upcoming holiday season. I really enjoyed sewing the blue Ikat dress: the fabric barely shifted and pressed beautifully.

After this visit I took off to Paron Fabrics, who are supposedly well-known for their wool. The store surely didn't disappoint, and I left with a few yards of this beauty:

The wool has a gorgeous drape, and I'll probably turn it into a wide and flowy winter skirt (it would work as a dress as well but I'm just a bit too sensitive to wool to want it so close to my skin on my upper body...). The sales assistant was very friendly, he seemed genuinely interested in what I was going to make and even gave me a small discount!

After this I went to a store called Fabrics for Less (they don't seem to have a website) which was cluttered and very cheap. I bought some of this:

This is going to become a longer-sleeved dress, with rather simple lines. I didn't want anything to bread up the scenery too much. The fabric looks like it's meant for upholstery, but it's definitely not as heavy as the fabric I used for my All over the World dress. Again, the owner was very friendly, even though I almost knocked over half of the store.

On a different day I returned with my boyfriend and visited AK Fabrics, because a little bird once told me they sold really good cotton flannel and I'm supposed to make my man a shirt. We had to do some digging but it really paid off, he found something we both liked and there was just enough left on the bolt. We kept petting the flannel during the rest of the day, it felt so amazing!

Also pictured: a lightweight chambray I got at B&J that same day. I think I have enough for a shirtwaist dress and a shirt for me. It's so soft, I just can't wait to wear it!

I also got a few pieces of silk to use as a lining in two big projects I'm planning. (Does anyone know a good source for cheaper silks suitable for coat and jacket linings in Belgium? I can only find the cheap poly stuff or ridiculously expensive fabrics meant for evening wear). The upper one is a navy silk twill I got at Mood, the bottom one a dark blue silk charmeuse I bought at Fabrics for Less. I'm a bit scared of using the charmeuse, since it's so slippery! It feels like trying to fold water.

I also visited a few of the notions stores to stock up on seam binding and interfacing, and just spent a whole lot of money in general. But it was great fun, and I already miss all those stores...

Book Review: Make your own Dress Patterns

People had been recommending this classic (the first edition is from 1959!) left and right, and since I had started to get interested in making my own patterns, I ordered it. The cover isn't very attractive and the illustrations inside look quite outdated, but once I got over that (we're way too spoiled with nicely-designed books these days...) I started to see just how much information there is in this book.

This is not exactly a book about drafting patterns completely from scratch, instead it starts with a few basic slopers (bodice, skirt, pants, sleeve,...) and shows how you can alter the basic pattern to get some new and exciting effects. Some of these suggestions are slightly scary and not something I'd make:

(But hey, at least I now know how it's done!)

But there are loads of great ideas and tricks in there! I am totally fascinated by the chapters on darts and control seams, and can't wait to try some of the things she suggests. 

Here you see how to create special shapes by shifting darts and slashing the pattern. There are loads of cute ideas like these.

Here a sleeve is shaped by turning an elbow dart into a control seam. The chapter on control seams is called 'Control is what it seams', by the way. Ha! Puns!

Overall, this has turned out to be a great reference and help since I wandered into pattern-drafting territory. The instructions are very well written, I've never come across a passage that made me go 'huh?'. At this moment I'm planning a few projects, one of them being a coat. Since I really want to alter the pattern, I'm expecting this book to be very useful in the future!

 

I'll finish this post with a sneak peek of what I've been working on. Spoiler: it has to do with denim! I took this picture yesterday because I was quite pleased with how my patch pockets and lined front pockets turned out.

Everyday I'm Muslinin'

Blame that horrible title on the heat, please.

So, how about the Dress of Shame? I started putting it together, full of fresh courage, when I encountered an unexpected problem with the front darts on the bodice. They worked on the muslin, but came out horribly wrong in the dres fabric. think freaky double-pointed nipples.

I think I fixed the problem but felt like an additional fitting was in order, so I contacted my friend and found out she wouldn't be available for the next couple of days.

And that's not all! One of my dear old cats underwent surgery to remove his eye on Friday (The eye was blind already and he got more and more infections so the vet advised us to have it removed). He got through it really well but isn't exactly in top shape at the moment. He's wearing one of those collar things and since he's still on painkillers we try to keep an eye on him as much as possible; especially in this heat. I'm now giving him water by dripping it into his mouth with a small siringe because we noticed he had some problems drinking with the collar on. This is our little Mr. Van Dam now:

I've given him a little eyepatch because the stitches look a bit gruesome. He doesn't seem to be too bothered by them though, he's more annoyed about not being able to lick his tummy (that's why we are brushing him several times a day).

Anyway, since the Dress of Shame has been postponed I figured this would be a good time to work on some muslins. I'll be in New York in early September and wanted to finish a few garments by then. Two of those have a princess-seamed bodice, which I first wanted to draft myself, but when Grainline had a sale going on I picked up the pattern for the Kat dress:

Here is the bodice muslin I made last night:

The fit is fine, but I felt the bodice was a bit too short to work for what I wanted to do. I also didn't need the curved waistline. So today I spent the afternoon slashing and spreading the pattern pieces to add some length. Let's hope it works out! This is a kind of basic bodice shape I really love, and it can be used in many different ways.

I hope to have some proper pictures of other finished garments by next weekend! The past two days have been so hot I didn't even want to wear clothes, let alone pose in them.

The Dress of Shame

This lovely fabric has been lying around my house for ages now. It's meant to be turned into a dress, one I like to call the Dress of Shame.

Why? Because a friend of mine picked this fabric, and the pattern to use it for, to make it into a beautiful dress, made especially for her. This one, to be precise:

(That's Vogue 2902, for the ones who want to know)

And why is this the Dress of Shame? Because she asked me to do this around TWO YEARS AGO.

Yeah.

It seems like I'm still a bit too chicken to really sew for someone else. I tend to fit as I go when making something for myself, and sewing with only measurements and a muslin seems slightly scary. What if I finish the dress and there's something terribly wrong with the fit, despite the muslins? It will go on my alteration pile and linger around even longer!

I do have to say this lovely friend lost a lot of weight between the first fittings. And we couldn't always match our schedules to meet for a fitting. But there really is no excuse for this to lie around for so long.

So before going to bed... I'll be sewing darts.

A very first post!

Hello everyone! Even though the internet is full of sewing blogs, I was hoping there would be room for one more. I feel like I should briefly introduce myself: My name is Anneke, I'm currently studying comics and illustration in Brussels, Belgium, and a huge part of my spare time is devoted to sewing. I started sewing out of interest and because I simply like making things, but as my skills progressed I found out that I really liked making garments that fit me and my budget better than what I can find in stores.

So what will be posted here? I thought I'd start documenting the things I make and write about sewing-related things I bump into. Even if nobody ever reads this blog, it might be fun for me to see the progress I'm making. One of these days my boyfriend and I will set up a little shoot so I can post about garments I've made before, but until then, here's what's on my table right now:

I went fabric shopping today and found a beautiful cotton-silk blend that will be turned into my first chantilly dress. I've loved the look of this pattern for a while now and felt like I could use a slightly fancier summer dress than the simple printed cottons I usually wear! The second fabric find is a linen-cotton blend to make into a ceylon dress (another one from Colette Patterns). I've made this one before in a cotton with a fine blue stripe and while I love the shape, it sometimes reminds me of a little girl's school dress. Time for a remake!